Smaller companies are pressing Julius Genachowski and the FCC for a data-roaming rule. |
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Smaller wireless providers don’t see anything wrong with extending voice rules to data. “It was a 5-0 vote last year on voice roaming, and we’re not asking for something that’s substantially different here,” said Russ Merbeth, government affairs vice president for Cricket Wireless, a decade-old mobile carrier with 5.4 million customers.

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The commission was able to require automatic roaming for voice calls, because voice traffic is considered a “common carrier” service. Data traffic is considered an “information service.” The FCC does not have the authority to impose common-carrier rules on an information service, Verizon and AT&T argue. They say a rule that puts data in the same basket as voice puts the commission on thin legal ice.

Genachowski’s office declined to comment. One commission aide agreed that the time to act is now.

“If we don’t get it done in April, then it’s probably dead,” the aide said.

If the issue dies at the commission, it could be reborn as an antitrust complaint.

Smaller carriers contend that Verizon and AT&T act as monopolies because of their wireless technology. AT&T uses the GSM technology and is the nation’s largest wireless provider, with 95 million customers. Verizon, meanwhile, uses CDMA technology and has 94 million customers. Competitors argue that those platforms lock smaller players into business with the larger ones, depending on which underlying architecture they use.

RCA’s Berry said the association has considered bringing a complaint before antitrust authorities, although that would be difficult, given a Supreme Court decision that says a network that does not share with competitors does not necessarily breach antitrust law.

“That’s not an issue that’s gone unnoticed,” Berry said. “We hope to pursue that in the coming months, but right now they have a free pass.”